May 2009 Meeting &

Plant of the Month Competition

Grafting, Seed Raising and Seedling Grafting

We welcomed David Rushforth (who was going to judge our show the following day) to our meeting

This was a practical talk and with demonstrations. He started the talk by asking us where seeds were obtained from - the society, habitat and foreign nurseries. We were told not to grow too many in a pot - about 10 to a pot maximum and we must learn from our own errors.

Start sowing in January/February in a propagator in warm conditions - 70degrees Fahrenheit, and what is most important is warmth, light and moisture. Start pricking out in September, then you can leave them for a year.

After the tea break he went on to tell us about grafting. You must have your home grown stock for best results. All plants will offset in nature so this is a good way of increasing you grafting stock. He also said was that on a graft, one year of growth is the same as ten years on their own roots

After this he showed us how to graft plants and this was a very well done demonstration. You must have a clean sharp knife and good rubber band and the plants must be growing well.